My body felt clumsy and out of balance
from some force I couldn’t immediately see.
I tried to take a step forward, but
an unexpected weight arrested me.
In a shock, I looked down at my feet
to discover I had not two but now four.
And suddenly, I sensed a second skull behind
my own—although whose? I was not yet sure.
Then, at once, I realized it was Nova—our bodies
growing into one another’s from our spine,
and for an instant, I felt reassured—safe forever
in this inseparable company of my own bloodline.
But only a second later, I was overcome
with a sudden jolt of overpowering dread.
I was ashamed that at that moment
I truly wished myself dead.
Forever joined back to back
to my identical human form—
not just my sister but my twin—I felt
only a foreboding chill against he
